S M A R T FA C TO R Y
IMPACT AND BEND-RESISTANT HIGH-PERFORMANCE CERAMICS
The Dortmund-based Moeschter Group GmbH specialises in high-performance materials. The group has four independent companies under its umbrella: Dotherm, Isocos, Doceram and Doceram Medical Ceramics, each of which develops and markets professional solutions for industrial applications in their specific fields.
D
otherm and Isocos manufacture electrical and thermal insulation using engineering plastics, fibreplastic composites and state-of-the-art high-tech materials. Doceram focuses its developments on industrial ceramic material with outstanding properties used as an alternative to metal. Doceram Medical Ceramics focuses on dental semi-finished products, develops and produces dental milling blanks under the Nacera brand, from which all-ceramic dental prostheses are manufactured.
MORE INFORMATION
Doceram: individual industry solutions with the standards of tomorrow Doceram makes the fascinating potential capabilities of high-performance ceramic usable as a new type of material for industrial applications. With its solutions for welding technology in automotive engineering, the company has become the world market leader. General mechanical engineering, sheet metal working, forming technology, the food industry and electrical engineering companies also rely on ceramic products from Doceram. Due to its typical characteristics, the material is used in a very wide range of 24 | Industry EMEA | April 2020
40
industrial applications and is growing increasingly popular. One of the reasons is that low-wear components, which have a significantly longer service life than conventional metallic materials, increase process reliability and minimize the risks to production. In many cases, ceramics can do more than steel Doceram high-performance ceramics are non-metallic materials based on ceramic powders produced by sintering and optimized for technical applications. By using various raw materials such as zirconia, silicon nitride and aluminium oxide as well as different manufacturing processes, the properties of the finished product can be adapted precisely to the customer’s requirements. For example, material A-132, which is based on aluminium oxide, has a maximum operating temperature of 1,700 °C and an extremely high degree of hardness (2,000 HV 0.5). In contrast, the maximum operating temperature of Cerazur, a zirconia-based material, is 1,000°C, but it achieves an enormous flexural strength of 1,300 MPa and, unlike most
